No probe of mishap that closed Tacloban airport
TACLOBAN CITY—An aviation official said here there would be no investigation of the accident on the runway of Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport that caused the airport’s closure for at least 17 hours, saying the cause of the accident, the softening of a portion of the runway, was normal.
The airport was closed after a commercial plane hit a soft portion of the runway on Wednesday as it was taxiing. Normal operations resumed on Thursday.
Antonio Alfonso, Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines area manager, said airport operations resumed at 5 a.m. after the repair on the runway was completed.
He said there was no need to conduct an investigation since it was normal for a portion of the runway to be “displaced” since it was made of asphalt.
“But in this instance, we have to close the operations of the airport considering that the affected area was located right in the middle of the runway,” he said.
A Cebu Pacific flight from Manila was taxiing past 2 p.m. on Wednesday when it hit a soft portion of the runway.
Alfonso canceled all inbound and outbound flights to repair the runway.
The same Cebu Pacific plane was supposed to leave for Manila at 8 a.m. on Thursday but its ground crew noticed a fuel leak.
All 120 passengers were asked to deplane. One of them was former Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla.
